Minister of Justice: Iran uses Swedish criminals

At a quarter to four, the Swedish Minister of Justice, Gunnar Strömer, held a press conference about the security situation in the country.

Links between government agencies and Swedish criminal circles were the main theme.

The Minister of Justice determined early on that there was a persistently high terrorist threat to the country.

– Strummer says that criminal networks have a large reserve of violence that is used in a way that often has dire consequences for innocent people.

Head of Counterintelligence at the Security Police (Cebu), Daniel Stenling, and Hampus Nygaard, Assistant Chief of the National Operations Department.

– Iran uses Swedish criminals

– The security police have described for several years how Iran conducts its business in and against Sweden, says Daniel Stenling in Cebu.

He adds that the security police were aware that Iran was targeting other countries in Sweden, not least Israel.

Stenling asserts that they can say with certainty that Iran is using Swedish criminal actors, and that there are links between individuals in criminal networks and individuals linked to Iran.

– Sweden should not be a platform for a global conflict.

Stenling says security police are high on the agenda, and that they work closely with the police and other actors to tackle crime.

It claims that Foxtrot works for Iran

One of the subjects was expected to be Roy Majeed, also known as the “Kurdish Fox,” according to what several Swedish media outlets reported. Majid is the leader of the Foxtrot criminal network.

The Israeli intelligence service Mossad claims that Majid began working on missions from Iran, the Swedish newspaper wrote today's news.

In January of this year, a grenade was thrown at the fence of the Israeli embassy in Stockholm. According to Mossad, Iran must have ordered the attack.

They also believe that the criminal networks Foxtrot and Rumba are working for Iran Aftonbladet.

One of the journalists present at the press conference asked whether the government could confirm these allegations.

– I understand that interest in this type of information is very great, but we will not talk about specific parts of our work, neither people nor networks, answered Hampus Nygaard in the police.

He says they do not want to comment on this matter, because they fear it will affect their work.

It flows across borders

Justice Minister Strøm says they have also previously observed “individuals” moving between terrorism and organized crime.

“We have to work more internationally to get to the bottom of these things, because they flow across national borders,” says Strom.

NRK asked several quarters to comment on what emerged during the press conference, whether the same thing is happening here and whether it affects Norway.

The electronic service does not wish to comment on this matter. The Police Security Service had no comment on Thursday evening.

Kripos wrote in an email that they are aware that states have used organized criminals to carry out acts of violence. They don't know that this is happening in Norway.

– In the police threat assessment for 2024, we emphasize crime as a commodity, but so far there are only examples of criminal actors committing violent acts in Norway at the request of other criminal actors, not states, writes Ole Jørgen Arvesen, Head of Joint Operations Services. .

Children are used to commit serious crimes

Hampus Nygaard, assistant head of the police's National Operations Department, says the police are meticulous and proactive in their work against crime.

At the same time, he says larger actors are pushing children to commit serious crimes on their behalf.

– Since January 2023, we have been able to prevent more than 180 serious violent crimes. Nygard says the surge in deadly violence in recent years has at least stopped.

At the same time, he says police must continue to evolve in order to better deal with organized crime.